So I am completely new to all of this and have been a heavy carb eater my entire life. A day for me could easily be potato chips, snacking on rows of crackers all day, plain pasta for lunch and dinner and lots and lots of pop.

I have been trying to transition to low-carb for about 3 weeks now. I keep failing though as I get overwhelming cravings for carby foods and give in.

The problem though is that I feel like zombie-hungry all the time. Today I made a ton of salmon with palm oil, coconut oil and olive oil mixed with radishes, celery and sweet onions. Every bite feels like I am dumping food into a never-ending hole. I just cannot get full. I feel aching hunger like I have gone hours without food and I am craving heavy carby stuff so bad its driving me a bit crazy.

I know books like Wheat Belly and Why We Get Fat, Good Calories, Bad Calories etc talk about when you eat fats and meat and things you can go hours without feeling hungry - but it isnt working.

I don't feel bad or sick or anything. I'm HIV+ and take medications that do not negatively affect my appetite or make me nauseated or anything. I'm 6'1 and about 190 and I'm 31. I have just never felt this hungry before.

Is this normal? How do I fix it? I feel like I need to eat a dozen steaks and possibly people. People are not off the menu right now.

Its not like I can talk to my doctor about this. She advised me to eat only lean meat or go vegetarian. So I'm kinda on my own here.

Fat...it's all about fat! But it's also a process. When I start low carb, I am like an eating machine! I don't count anything but carbs initially. I just keep eating whenever I am hungry and make it all about the fats. For me it's cream. Heavy whipping variety, and LOTS that fills that fat hole lol. Protein I get full of quicker, but not so much fats. I think it slows down my loss....but my loss would be slow anyway as I still breastfeeding the last kid.......he is almost done.....and my body is just slowly letting go of fat.... But I digress.....eat, just eat. I know it's not on plan for you, but I've found my most successful attempt at low carb has been the one where I OnLY counted carbs and let everything else work itself out somewhere. I started at the end of July, and I only watch my carbs ( need to keep them at or just below 15 a day) my protein seems to naturally fall into healthy amounts and my fat seems to be at the 60ish percent. Fat keeps me FULL and works. Have you tried heavy on the fats? Like cream sauces, cheeses etc?

I'll tell you what, Based on the basic physiology of it all, you ARE starving! Starving for CARBS.

You see, Your body is used to getting all of it's energy from carbs and sugar, It's set in it's ways. So if you stop eating those things and eat meat and fat and vegetables, Your body is going to keep waiting for the carbs and sugar to come later.

When it doesn't come, it will make you hungry for it, even if you are eating fat and protein. You're body WILL NOT TRANSITION to efficient use of that fat and protein until it realizes that the carbs WILL NOT COME BACK!

In other words, if you feel hungy, KEEP EATING. But eat more fatty meat, and eat more veggies, and add more butter and have cream in your coffee and eat creamy sauces, and cheese on your broccoli. Snack on Fat Bombs of cream cheese and coconut oil with sweetner for sweet cravings.

It's okay to eat if you are hungry, especially zombie hungry. Eat liver and pate and caviar if you want! Eat chicken thigh dipped in mayo!

Go ahead an eat, just eat low carb. The Hunger FOR CARBS will eventually diminish as your body finally realizes that it's getting everything it needs in the meats, veggies, oils, dairy other high fat/low carb foods you'll eat.

Some meds make you hungry no matter what diet you are on. It seems like you were chowing down bigtime on carbs before you started the LC plan..

Ketosis is the key to not being hungry. Sometimes it can take several weeks of clean
eating to get into a good ketosis so your hunger will be diminished. Fat is your friend, so don't be afraid of it..Best wishes..

I'm not hungry--and I am recognizing my need to chew--so I work my food choices around that--like I know that hard boiled eggs are okay--but sometimes I need to eat steak so that I chew something. Better steak than chips or cookies, right?

My question to you is how long does it take the average (whoever that is) person to actually get into ketosis. I have been eating around 20 carbs per day and not really counting calories too much. I do drink coffee a couple of times a day, with heavy cream. I also try to drink a good amount of water, but also do drink some diet soda--but not cola. I've cut back on cheese. My weight dropped 7.5 lbs. in the first 10 days, but since then it has bounced up or down about .5 lbs. for one week (seven whole days!). I really want to make that scale move, what would you suggest?

Am I doing something wrong or is my body just being stubborn--after a long time of being overweight?

China, it sounds like you are doing everything right. Yes, I'll take steak over chips!!

It takes at minimum 72 hours of biologically zero carbs ( 20g or less) for the body to use up it's glycogen stores in the liver and muscles. If you continue with induction level carbohydrates and no blood sugar spikes, then your body will switch to fat burning to supply fuel, but it won't be efficient. Your body will breakdown fat and protein to make the glucose your body needs. and it will dump the ketone byproduct of the fat burning in your urine, sweat and lungs ( keto breath/odour).

But, if at any moment you eat something high in sugar or starch, your body will hit the breaks on the fat burning and restart the carb burning process, any excess going to refill the muscles and liver and then you start all over the 72 hour process.

After about 3 weeks of being in ketosis ( fat burning ) your body will switch to a more efficient burning of fat fuel, and switch your brain to using those excess ketones, saving the glucose for your muscles and organs that use them the most. This is the best place to be for fat loss and normal operation. It's call being keto-adapted. Your brain is using the fats leftover ketones, and your muscles can use the glucose your body makes from fat and protein, and any carbs from your meals' veggies.

It is a multi step process, and it sounds like you are on the right track.

Thanks so much Metga! I just keep watching the scale and today it was down--but of course, the same .5 lbs. that it was up yesterday. I belonged to WW for years and never lost much--it was always such small amounts each week. I hope that my body starts moving in the right direction.

I just keep saying I've lost 7.0 lbs in less than a month--and that is good! If I could do that every month for a year that would be 84 lgs. Actually, I don't even have to loose that much. I would like to drop about 70 lbs.